


Charity

by Lirillith



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: F/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-17
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-02-13 15:06:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2155056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lirillith/pseuds/Lirillith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-Rising, Barnaby seeks Karina out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Charity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [selinakyle47](https://archiveofourown.org/users/selinakyle47/gifts).



After the sequence of unlikely events that started with his short-lived partnership with Golden Ryan and ended with his and Kotetsu's return to the first league and partnership, the last thing Barnaby expected was for Kotetsu to apologize. The misunderstanding that had contributed to it all felt so unimportant in the grand scheme of things, and there was only so much it had even done to influence the outcome; he and Kotetsu had mended fences over worse breaches of trust without anyone ever saying "sorry" or "it was my fault" or "Blue Rose kicked some sense into me." 

"I don't follow," was what Barnaby said in response to that last. "What does Blue Rose have to do with this?"

"She was the one who told me, y'know, why you cared about money. I should've realized. I'm sorry, Bunny." 

There was no real reason for Kotetsu to have realized that. Barnaby had done everything his power to keep his involvement with the Saint Justitia Children's Home a secret; it wasn't something he was doing for recognition. He had no reason to fear Kotetsu would have alerted the media, but it was something he preferred to keep private. "Don't worry about it," was all he said. "I could have explained, after all." 

He could have explained why he would have liked increased income, or he could have explained that the mention of money was a hopeful lure to interest Kotetsu in the First League, or he could have called Kotetsu at some point after their split to explain either or both of those things then. Instead, he'd just let the subject drop; an apology was an unexpected gift. 

What interested Barnaby the most was the question of how Blue Rose had known, but there was only one way to find out. 

That was why he was here, now, on the set of a music video, surrounded by enthusiastic backup dancers. It had taken him weeks, well after the heroes' role in the cleanup and relief effort had ended and they'd returned to business as usual, to make up his mind to do this, and then another week of indecision to determine how. His fame made it hard for him to seek a young civilian out unobtrusively — he could, in fact, go many places unnoticed and unobserved, but he never knew when he might be recognized — and on top of that, he felt distinctly creepy lurking around a high school waiting to accost a young woman who was still, in reality, a teenager. 

Thus, the music video's set. He would have thought that backup dancers hired to work with one hero wouldn't be so impressed by another, but fans were fans; it was nice to be able to brighten someone's day just by treating them with common courtesy, so he posed for pictures and signed personal possessions and smiled and smiled and smiled. 

He didn't know when the star of the show had arrived, but at some point he looked up and saw her, leaning against the wall with her arms folded, just watching him. "If you'll excuse me?" he said to his little crowd. "I think everyone had a picture or an autograph, right?" Nods and well-wishes and goodbyes ensued, but his eyes were on her.

It was honestly an effort at this point to think of her as "Blue Rose" and not "Karina," though the costume helped. At some point he'd slip and call her by her real name if he wasn't careful. 

"Is something wrong?" she asked. "If you needed to talk to me, you could have said something at the training center. Or called."

Apparently, he was intruding. "I wanted to speak to you privately." It sounded lame and inadequate under the circumstances; it was possible to speak in private at the training center, or by phone or callband. The truth was that he'd wanted to see her. 

"Okay..." Karina said, one eyebrow elevated. "I'm here. Tell me what's going on."

This had been a terrible idea, but it was too late to back out now. "I wanted to thank you. I wouldn't have cleared up Kotetsu's misunderstanding on my own, but I appreciate that you did it." 

"Misunderstanding? Oh! You mean the thing about the money." 

He nodded, mutely. It wasn't just money, and it wasn't just one misunderstanding; it was the fact Kotetsu would think that of him, it was the latest of a long series of misunderstandings spanning their entire partnership, and it was, above all, the fact that _Karina_ of all people had been the one to see the truth. 

"It just bugs me to see him get it so wrong," she said. "I mean — one of the colleges I'm applying too has a Brooks Hall on campus. They have a Brooks engineering scholarship too. You'd think he'd know you don't just want more money for its own sake. Why not just tell him? 'I want to donate more money to orphans' is pretty, um, saintly?"

"It's complicated." Or maybe it was very simple. He didn't know, because he couldn't explain his own reluctance, just look at his shoes and resort to brusque platitudes and non-answers. 

"You're spending too much time with Tiger," she said. "I don't think you always hid your feelings like this, did you?" 

"It's hard to say. I never had friends to hide things from, before." 

Karina laughed, utterly unexpected and miraculous. Kotetsu was always the one who made her laugh. "I guess that would make it harder," she said. 

"I did want to ask you one thing, before I go." Off her nod, he continued, "How did you find out? I do my best to keep my involvement low-profile."

"I was buying some parade tickets and one of the clerks let it slip. Sorry. That's how things get out, you know?"

"I suppose it was bound to happen. I just wanted to prevent it as long as possible. It's not something I'm doing for attention."

"Anyone would know why you're doing it, Barnaby," she said quietly. "Even if it gets out." 

"It's just... personal."

"Yeah." It was strange to see her normal expressions underneath the aggressive Blue Rose makeup. She looked pensive, a little sad. "I guess you don't really have a whole lot of privacy." But the moment passed, and she pushed herself off from the wall. "I'm sorry, but I really need to get back to work."

"I understand. I won't keep you. I just wanted to express my gratitude," he said, then added, in an impulsive rush, "It means a lot to me. I honestly thought you hated me."

Her lips quirked into a not-quite-smile. "Well, you used to be a lot more hateable than you are now. But I could say the same thing." 

She'd really thought that? He shook his head. "I never hated you. I may have had a hard time resisting the urge to _tease_ you..." 

"You called that teasing? Jeez." She shook her head. "You could be a real jerk back when you first started out."

He remembered not caring about the opinions of the other heroes; they were competitors, after all, and making nice was a waste of time. Why expend effort on something that wouldn't improve your image, after all? 

Maybe in a year or two Ryan wouldn't set his teeth on edge. "I suppose I was," he said, with _Hey, Junior_ echoing in his mind. "I'm sorry." 

"At least you got better. It's like night and day. Having Ryan around kind of..." 

He almost laughed. "I was thinking something similar. At least you can tell yourself that now I know how it feels."

"Oh, believe me, I do." She grinned, then glanced at the thinning crowd around the craft services table. "If you stick around till the shoot's done, we could go out for coffee or something and talk more." 

If he kept smiling like this, he'd start to creep her out; it wasn't like him at all. "I'd like that."


End file.
